Walking Dead head honcho Frank Darabont has stepped away from his duties as showrunner, but as is often the case in post-zombie apocalypse landscapes, a survivor is picking up the fallen leader’s torch.

Still, it remains unclear whether or not Darabont will have a role to play in the show going forward.

A veteran of “The Shield,” Mazzara previously served as showrunner on the first season of Starz’s “Crash” and the second season of “Hawthorne.” He comes with a high endorsement from Darabont himself, too, who previously told Deadline just one month ago: “We hired Glen Mazzara as our Number Two in the room. We consider him our head writer and he’s just a fantastic asset.” Sounds like Darabont’s got nothing but respect for his successor.

As it sometimes happens in life, number two has become number one, it seems, with Mazzara stepping up to steer the good ship “Walking Dead” along the remainder of its second season path, which is still slated to mark its grand debut on October 16. No doubt that Darabont will be missed, of course, but at least it looks like an unfortunate situation has resolved itself fairly quickly.